Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1887-12-23

'' N'N''ihS anu iunbluS HOTStS.
but since that time the horse for general
purposes has been carefully studied. As
TO running and trotting horses, we have
reached high degree of perfection, and
don't believe you will find any better
horses anywhere than in Kentucky.
LAS to Percherons, there are millions
of dollars already invested in them in the
United States, and there is a gentleman
named Durham who has made fortune
out OF them. He might be called the
Percheron Horse King. He has had as
many as five hundred Percherons on his
farm at one time. His house on his farm
at Wayne, forty miles from Chicago. is
equal to Abbottsford in its appointments.
1t is hung with old tapestry, and has
iiany studies of Rosa Bonheur. A great
friendship exists between Rosa Bonheur
and Mr.. Durham, and he lately got an
Apache pony for her at her request, and
shipped it across the water for use in one
OF her paintings. Durham imports $780,
ooo worth of these Percherons at time,
and,with Studebaker Brothers, the wagon
and carriage manufacturers, has ranch
in California, where, he tells me. he
thinks he will be able to breed better
horse of the kind than has ever been
bred before. He bases this supposition
on the fact of the high altitude where
the horses will be raised giving them
greater lung power. This will, in time.
lead to type of horses with bigger
lungs and consequently with better
staying powers
"Tell me something of the characters
ties of the Percheron horse"
1.-The horses are generally of dapple-
gray. though they may be black, and
now and then are bay or chestnut. They
are heavy horse, weighing 1000 pounds
and upward. They have a fine action, a
fine skin, fine coats, great strength and
great endurance for work and travel.
They are noted for their docility and
tractableness, and may be said to he born
broken to the harness. | harnessed
team of them for the first time one morn
ing at o'clock. At they were draw
ing plough as well as well-broken
team, and were only little awkward.
They ploughed in the field all day, only
being rested now and then that their
shoulders might not get sore. The next
day my farmer drove them into the city
of Detroit. and though they had never
seen crowd of people, an electric car,
street car or steam car. or the innumer-
able objects displayed in business city,
they showed no fear-only kind of lau-
dable curiosity. They would smell of
steam engine, and while | was blowing
up stumps with dynamite this summer
they stood by and watched the pieces
blown up into the air without more than
raising their eyes at the sound. l attrib-
, tribute this fact to their remarkable in
: telligence in the first place, and again to
the fact that these horses had never heard
; cross word or been struck
; "What is your theory as to the treat
/ ment of horses? How should they be
: managed?'
"A horse should be treated just as you
would man or boy. My carriage
} horses Jared better at the hands of an
=. old Englishman who knew nothing about
horse than with any other driver have
ever had. When this man asked me how
he should treat them he was told to treat
. them just as he did himself only little
better. He was methodical in his ways,
and he always fed the horses before he
fed him sa1f n bn
cred them whenever he got the chance,
and in winter three times a day. Inas-
: much as the horses could not scratch
: themselves, he gave them good brush
ing every morning, and it is my rule in
: driving horse that whenever | feel that
| want drink myself also feel that the
horse may be suffering in the same direc-
ton.
The Percheron horse" Senator Pal
mer went ON, has great powers of endur-
ance. He has fine knee action. and he
is so full of intelligence that men treat
him better than they do duller horse.
He has good wind and has all the nmble-
ness and speed of the English coach
horse. Last year more than S3,000,000
worth of these horses were imported, and
believe that they are going to prevail as
the American draught horse
paid visit to Senator Palmer's farm,
near Detroit, last summer. 1t contains
657 acres, and the improvements upon it
have cost the Senator over 100000. He
has nine miles of drives thrOuph itS
woods, eighty miles of undertaking,
and has miniature lake which was dug
by hand and which is kept full of water
by a steam engine. He has log cabin
which cost 1000, and his animal hob
bies are Percheron horses, Jersey cows
and Blenheim spaniels. His horses are
named after the Marshals of France.